Stories

I am the program manager for a Mission family here that has three children. The eldest child is a six-year-old boy. When he first came to the Mission, he was withdrawn and would not look at or talk to me. They have been here at the Bartlett Campus since July 30 and I visit them on a weekly basis. Since that first encounter, these little children have absolutely bloomed! Aden, the six-year-old boy, speaks the most precious prayers for us when we are done with our meeting. Today I asked him to pray and he willingly said, Yes!" His prayer went like this: "Dear Jesus, thank you for letting us speak kind words and be nice to one another and thank you for our home here. Thank you for this lady,…

As a Program Manager I often leave hand-written notes for my clients just to say I’m thinking of them and praying for them. This week I was surprised to see a note for me. My client had taken the time to say she appreciated me and all we do here at the Mission. She told me that she was praying for me. She also gave me a copy of a gospel track she had written. Although she wrote it as a gospel message addressed to children, it truly spoke to my heart. Her thoughtfulness and sincere love for the lost spoke into my life in what could have been a very rough week. Sunny Milton

I have had the privilege of being able to help change the lives of several men this month! I am very open and engaging about my Christian faith and it's not too hard for the men here to figure that out. I ask if I can pray with them often and always invite prayer anytime they feel the need. One of my GTD brothers that I have come to know very well asked me to please pray with him for his sister who had just found her husband dead from an overdose. I have never met her, but I could see that he was hurting and needed to ask God to intervene. We stepped aside and prayed right there in the hallway, and he was very thankful that I took…

Hey guys, Today I went to a local business to pick up a donation of produce. There's a guy there named Johnny who's there sometimes. He previously said to me how much he appreciates what we do for the homeless because he was once homeless living in Venice Beach. Johnny said he wasn't feeling well today and asked if I could lift the boxes of produce into the van because his back was hurting. I said sure and probed a little more about what was going on with him physically. He said he's had to miss a bit of work because he has a condition where there's a cyst on his spine. The doctors are not sure what to do because the treatment could paralyze him but his condition could…

Twenty-five years ago, when we built our women and children’s shelter, six family rooms seemed more than adequate to house single mothers who were experiencing homelessness. Through the years, many single mothers and their children have spent nights in these rooms, but this year our rooms are all full. This means we have anywhere from 6 to 15 children living at the Mission at any given time. These families stay with us anywhere from one to six months. The stability provided by the Mission enables the families to develop a healthy foundation they can build on and succeed when they leave the Mission. For some, it’s a matter of finding employment, and for others it might be locating housing. No matter what challenges they face, these families all need your…

Last Thursday I was working in the Outfit Outlet. While engaging in small talk with our customers, a woman brought up how she had not seen her son in over two years because he had slid into the drug world. I was able to tell her about a family support group for people with loved ones lost in addiction called "Anchor of Hope." While this is not a Mission group, it is a faith-based resource that we can point people to. Before she left she gave us her son's name so that we could pray for him. What a privilege it is to be able to go to the God who created everything on behalf this mom and her son Jesse. Will

I have had the unique opportunity to live at the Women's Gospel Mission for the past week. Keeping the schedule and following the rules and boundaries has been enlightening. Exhaustion encompasses me. Being homeless, experiencing the stress of being homeless, and keeping to the schedule fatigues even the strongest person. Getting up at 6:15 a.m. every day (including Saturday and Sunday) and not being able to relax and maybe take a nap in the afternoon is also exhausting. I don't have a home that I can call my own. One of the clients told me that, "Being homeless is exhausting; people ask me why I'm so tired and I tell them: 'I'm homeless; it's exhausting'." I've felt drawn into the family here at the Mission. As a Program Manager, I…

I have a friend who likes to say, "We are never more like Jesus than when we serve." So many of the ladies who reside at the Women's Mission are on the receiving end of some type of assistance. This past weekend they had the opportunity to give back, as three local churches came together to present the Gospel at the Jackson County Fair. These amazing women got the opportunity to serve others. Some welcomed families, assisting them with their needs, while others put together care packages for the carnival workers. Just for a moment, their thoughts and concerns did not revolve around their own struggles. They were on the giving end and they were blessing others! This was so very evident as their broadly smiling faces radiated grace, kindness, compassion,…

At the Bartlett Street Campus we have experienced extreme change in the last eight months. We are restructuring our campus to be managed similar/equal to the Jackson Street Campus. One area of change is how we encourage a Christ-centered transformation in the ladies participating in our two-year Christian growth discipleship program. Change is always difficult when it is generated by someone else into our lives. This change was extremely scary for some. One of the former disciples was especially fearful but there was one piece of the new discipleship program that intrigued her: our mentors. So, since November, she has submitted herself to our authority and dedicated herself to growing in her faith through attending our classes and serving others by managing our kitchen and our front desk on evenings…